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This paper presents a review of independent cinema in the period of democracy building in Brazil from 1985 to 2016, a time span with films that portray a democratic project of emergence of erased identities in national cinema. The place occupied by black people, women and the poor assumed a tense status in this new context. The Day Dorival Faced the Guard by Jorge Furtado (1986), for example, chronicles the strategic and shrewd thinking of a black inmate in order to be able to take a shower after ten days in solitary confinement by order of no one knows who. Kbela by Yasmim Thainá (2015), on the other hand, is a black woman’s film of humble origin. The narrative shows the transformation of five women who overcome racial prejudice by discovering their own identity, color, culture, ancestry. In the two films it is possible to identify a trajectory that transforms the figuration of freedom of action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The essay analyzes representations of neoliberal labour in two films by the U.S. filmmaker Ramin Bahrani: Man Push Cart (2005) and Chop Shop (2007). By focusing on working-class labour in New York's informal economy, the films undermine the prevalent characterization of contemporary labour as "immaterial" and fundamentally new. The essay argues that, in the latter film, the Willets Point neighbourhood appears as an area of "uneven development," which gives the working-class characters a modicum of autonomy and a chance to transform their spaces. Yet the films' greatest strength is their resistance to clichéd representations of workingclass characters as oppressed "others"--objects of ethnographic fascination and paternalistic sympathy. Instead, Bahrani encourages the audience's identification with the characters by using innovative filmmaking practice and focusing on the structures of "entrepreneurial governmentality," usually associated with white-collar work. Bahrani's films also highlight the contradictions of contemporary filmmaking and neoliberal culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with B. R. Rich, professor in the Film and Digital Media Department at the University of California at Santa Cruz, is presented. She is asked to define the independent film genre, discuss American independent cinema and comment on the role of the American Sundance Film Festival in the promotion of independent films. She also discusses LGBT film festivals, women's festivals and her career as a journalist and film critic.

An essay is presented on the trajectory of the American independent film industry in the post-1980 period. Topics discussed include the corporate takeover of independent film companies by major conglomerate Hollywood companies based in Los Angeles, California including Time Warner Entertainment Co., Walt Disney Productions, and Universal City Studios Inc. Further discussed is Indiewood, a term coined by scholars describing the convergence of filmmaking methods of both independent and mainstream film.

The article discusses the ability of the American independent filmmakers Ethan Coen and Joel Coen (known as the Coen Brothers) to maintain a high level of authority over the production of their films while receiving funding from major motion picture studios including Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. Topics discussed include a definition of independent film, the brothers' independent screenwriting process, and their preferred methods of film production and film distribution. Also mentioned are independent studios that are subsidiaries of major motion picture studios, such as Sony Pictures Classics, an independent division of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

The article analyzes the 2010 film Meek's Cutoff, directed by Kelly Reichardt. Emphasis is given to its success within the American independent film genre. Topics discussed include the production, formal qualities, and politico-ideological stance of the film. Further discussed are the characteristics of successful American independent films including low-budget films, low-cost distribution, and niche marketing.